After marathon, all-day talks, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reached a deal Friday night with the state employee unions that guarantees four years of no layoffs and averts deep budget cuts in many agencies.
The agreement is a clarification of a previous deal reached with negotiators that was designed to help balance the state's budget. But that deal was rejected by rank-and-file state employees - throwing the state into fiscal chaos as Malloy threatened as many as 7,500 layoffs and spending cuts that would have led to the closure of motor vehicle branches, welfare offices, courthouses, two historic ferries, and a juvenile jail in New Haven.
More than 1,800 state employees received layoff notices recently, and some workers had been expected to leave their positions as early as next week. But Malloy says those cuts can be largely averted.
"I am pleased that an agreement has been reached,'' Malloy said in a statement after 10 p.m. "So that there is no confusion, let's be clear about what this clarified agreement is. This agreement saves the same amount of money as the last agreement - $1.6 billion over two years, $21.5 billion over 20 years - and it contains all of the same cost-savings provisions as the last agreement.''
He continued, "So what's changed? The healthcare language has been clarified to make it crystal clear that state employees are not being put into a new healthcare system called SustiNet. There is language in the agreement that will allow the state to recoup the money state employees will be getting from a raise that just went into effect. And the effective date by which state employees can retire before any of these changes go into effect has been changed from September 2, 2011 to October 2, 2011. That's it. No other changes from the first agreement.''
Malloy added, "I said all along that I was only willing to clarify terms from the last agreement, and that's what we've done. I hope state employees ratify this agreement, but I am assuming nothing. If they ratify it, the vast majority of layoffs and painful spending cuts can be undone. If this agreement fails, then we'll unfortunately have to continue to lay people off and implement the spending cuts.''
The ratification of the updated, revised pact should be easier because the unions changed their by-laws in order to simplify the voting process. Now, 8 of the 15 unions - representing a majority of the employees - must approve the agreement. Previously, 14 of the 15 unions - representing 80 percent of the membership - were needed.
Eric Bailey, a spokesman for the unions, released a statement three minutes after Malloy's statement was sent to reporters.
"The agreement clarifies unequivocally that the now-dead SustiNet health reform legislation has nothing to do with the plan - and never will,'' Bailey said.
Despite Malloy's projections of $1.6 billion in savings over two years, Republicans say it is actually a smoke-and-mirrors deal with questionable cost projections and about $600 million in inflated assumptions.
Before the deal was announced Friday night, Malloy had warned earlier Friday that the savings-and-concessions deal could collapse once again if it is not explained well by the union leaders.
The leaders finally agreed with Malloy's offer Friday night at a Hartford union hall, where Malloy had placed the ball squarely in their court.
"This agreement got shot down once. It could get shot down again,'' Malloy told reporters in Manchester earlier Friday, as reported by FOX CT's Laurie Perez. "It will get shot down again if people don't do their jobs and explain to people why this is necessary.''
He added, "I remain hopeful, but quite frankly, it's taken much longer than it should. I suspect that people would like to renegotiate aspects of this contract, but I made it clear from the start we're not renegotiating these concessions. We'll clarify and address the problem that was created by going after July 1st, but that's about it. ... I don't think there's much to talk about.''
Some union members had taken exception to those remarks as the sensitive talks were ongoing.
After leaving the talks shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, Malloy's chief negotiator, Mark Ojakian, told FOX CT's Narmeen Choudhury that there is a deal on the table that Malloy is comfortable with. The union leaders were still discussing that agreement on Friday night.
"We are hoping that they approve an agreement and that their members will ratify it,'' Ojakian said. "If that doesnt happen, as you know, layoffs will continue to proceed. ... The governor is comfortable with the agreement on the table - one that clarifies all of the issues that were outstanding from the first time around.''
He added, "The original agreement was the basis for our conversations, and I was directed to provide a document that clarified any issues that needed to be clarified for the rank and file members. ... We may communicate over the next few hours to see if there are some additional items I need to be involved in. But if both sides agree, there will be a temporary agreement signed and then that agreement will be brought to the rank and file for ratification. We are not there yet. The unions are now debating amongst themselves. They are a very broad coalition, and they operate by consensus.''